Aiding Her Dying Husband, a Geriatrician Learns the Emotional and Physical Toll of Caregiving
When the covid pandemic hit, Dr. Rebecca Elon was thrust into a new role, primary caregiver for her severely ill husband and her elderly mother. “Reading about caregiving of this kind was one thing. Experiencing it was entirely different,” she says.
Covid Forces Cohousing Communities to Examine Shared Values and Relationships
How do dozens of people living communally decide what to do during a public health crisis when members have varying tolerance for risk and different opinions about safe practices?
‘I Can Breathe Again’: Older Adults Begin to Test Freedom After Covid Vaccinations
Whether it’s making plans to hug their grandchildren, scheduling long-overdue medical appointments or just petting the neighbor’s dog, seniors are inching back to a lifestyle they’ve missed during the pandemic.
Reopening of Long-Term Care Facilities Is ‘an Absolute Necessity for Our Well-Being’
Relatives and advocates are calling for federal authorities to relax restrictions in long-term care institutions and grant special status to “essential caregivers” — family members or friends who provide critically important hands-on care — so they have the opportunity to tend to relatives in need.
Countless Homebound Patients Still Wait for Covid Vaccine Despite Seniors’ Priority
Health organizations have begun sending doctors and nurses to apartment buildings and private homes to vaccinate homebound seniors, but the efforts are slow and spotty.
Family Caregivers, Routinely Left Off Vaccine Lists, Worry What Would Happen ‘If I Get Sick’
Tens of thousands of middle-aged sons and daughters — too young to qualify for a vaccine — care for older relatives with serious ailments and want to get the shots to protect their loved ones and themselves.
Older Adults Without Family or Friends Lag in Race to Get Vaccines
Public health officials have singled out seniors as key candidates for the covid-19 vaccines but too many of these seniors are not able to get shots because they don’t use computers, don’t have internet services or transportation, or don’t have someone to help them with the process.
If I Have Cancer, Dementia or MS, Should I Get the Covid Vaccine?
Older patients with cancer, dementia or other serious illnesses should check with their doctors, but medical experts recommend the vaccine for most people.
Vaccination Disarray Leaves Seniors Confused About When They Can Get a Shot
As covid cases and deaths soar, it’s difficult to get up-to-date, reliable information about inoculations, and many older adults don’t know where to turn for help. Navigating Aging columnist Judith Graham answers questions from several readers.
With Vaccine Delivery Imminent, Nursing Homes Must Make a Strong Pitch to Residents
More than half of long-term care residents have cognitive impairment or dementia, raising questions about whether they will understand the details about the fastest and most extensive vaccination effort in U.S. history.
What Seniors Can Expect When COVID Vaccines Begin to Roll Out
At least two vaccines could get federal emergency use authorizations this month. Nursing home and assisted living residents will be among the first to receive inoculations. Here’s a guide on how that rollout may proceed.
Qué deben esperar los adultos mayores de la vacuna contra COVID
Adultos mayores en residencias y centros de vida asistida estarán entre los primeros en ser vacunados, siguiendo las recomendaciones de un panel asesor federal.
Facebook Live: Helping COVID’s Secondary Victims: Grieving Families and Friends
More than 246,000 people in the U.S. have been killed by the coronavirus, leaving hundreds of thousands of others grieving. Judith Graham, author of KHN’s Navigating Aging column, hosted a discussion on these unprecedented losses and dealing with bereavement. She was joined by Holly Prigerson, co-director of the Center for Research on End-of-Life Care at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and Diane Snyder-Cowan, leader of the bereavement professionals steering committee of the National Council of Hospice and Palliative Professionals.
Long-Term Care Workers, Grieving and Under Siege, Brace for COVID’s Next Round
As the coronavirus surges around the country, workers in nursing homes and assisted living centers are watching cases rise in long-term care facilities with a sense of dread. Many of these workers struggle with grief over the suffering they’ve witnessed.
Prayers and Grief Counseling After COVID: Trying to Aid Healing in Long-Term Care
With employees emotionally drained and residents suffering from loss, many nursing homes and assisted living centers are working with chaplains, social workers and mental health professionals to help people deal with the effects of the coronavirus.
Seniors Form COVID Pods to Ward Off Isolation This Winter
Older adults are deliberating what to do as days and nights turn chilly and coronavirus cases rise across the country. Some are forming “bubbles” with small groups of friends who agree on pandemic precautions and will see one another in person. Others are planning to go it alone.
Older COVID Patients Battle ‘Brain Fog,’ Weakness and Emotional Turmoil
Seniors tend to have more serious symptoms than younger coronavirus patients, including the aftereffects of hospital-based delirium. Doctors recommend physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and cognitive rehabilitation.
Lifetime Experiences Help Older Adults Build Resilience to Pandemic Trauma
These seniors use coping strategies to keep them socially active yet safe from the coronavirus.
A Pandemic Upshot: Seniors Are Having Second Thoughts About Where to Live
More than 70,000 residents and staff members at nursing homes and assisted living facilities have died of COVID-19, and others are under strict rules designed to keep the disease from spreading. That has evoked concern that living in a communal facility could be dangerous.
We Put Off Planning, Until My Father-in-Law’s Medical Crisis Took Us by Surprise
Although the family patriarch did not face a life-threatening emergency, the episode was a reminder that you have to prepare for a real crisis.
